New York Daily News Wants Governor to Veto Bill for an April Presidential Primary

Posted on by July 17, 2023
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The New York Daily News has a July 17 editorial calling on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to veto A7690, the bill that passed last month and which sets an April presidential primary. The editorial is behind a pay wall, but it says the legislature should pick one date for both the presidential primary and the primary for other office. The primary for non-presidential office is in June. The News says either an April primary for all offices would work, or a June primary for all offices would work, but that it is bad policy to have two primary dates in the same year, so close together in time.

The legislature still hasn’t sent A7690 to the Governor. For some reason there is often a long delay between a bill passing the New York legislature, and the legislature sending it to the Governor. The bill passed June 8.

Ohio Federal Court Denies Ballot Access Relief to Judicial Candidate

Posted on by July 17, 2023
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On June 27, 2023, U.S. District Court Judge James L. Graham denied relief to Sarah Thomas Hoover, a Republican who was kept off the ballot in November 2022 even though she was her party’s nominee for Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas. Koover v LaRose, s.d., 2:22cv-3468.

She had run in the May 2022 Republican primary for a different judicial position. Later, the Common Pleas seat became vacant due to the resignation of the incumbent. In such special election situations, Ohio law lets parties choose a nominee without the need for a primary. The Republican Party chose her as its nominee, but because she had run for a different position earlier that year, the Board of Elections and the Secretary of State kept her off the ballot. Therefore the Democratic Party nominee was the only candidate listed on the November ballot.

Judge Graham said that the “sore loser” law is constitutional in general. He wrote that if the plaintiff had filed an “as applied” claim, she might have won the lawsuit. He said the justifications for the “sore loser” law are not peruasive in a sitution like this. He said, “The unusual situation where a primary election loser desires election to since-vacated office is unlikely to confuse voters or cause a substantial increase of work for county board of elections.” But apparently her briefs made a general attack on the sore loser law instead of an “as applied” challenge, so she lost the lawsuit. Here is the eight-page opinion.

Maine Ballot Access Bill Signed

Posted on by July 17, 2023
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On July 7, Maine Governor Janet Mills signed LD 769, which eases the definition of a qualified political party. The old law said it was a group with 5,000 registrants if it was less than four years old, but if it was four years old or more it needed 10,000.

The new law says a qualified party is a group with 5,000 registered members, regardless of the age of the party.

North Dakota Initiative Begins to Circulate to Propose Age Limits for Service in Congress

Posted on by July 16, 2023
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An initiative idea has been filed with the Secretary of State of North Dakota. Signatures should start to be collected soon. It would provide that no one could run for Congress who would be as old as age 81 by the end of the term. See this story.

In 1995 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that neither states, nor congress, can add to the constitutional qualifications for service in Congress. U.S. Term Limits v Thornton. But the vote was 5-4 and the composition of the Supreme Court has changed since 1995. Also, the North Dakota initiative provides that in case the main point of the measure is held unconstitutional, and North Dakota can’t limit the age of congressional candidates, that the ballot should show for each candidate the age he or she would be at the end of the term.